THE TEESSIDE TRILOGY + COATHAM MARSH + DEADWATER

Forms of Circulation #1–5

Forms of Circulation #1–5

The first three films in our 16mm series have been shown together as The Teesside Trilogy as part of the group exhibition Desire Lines: Art, Place & Possibilities, MIMA, Middlesbrough, 28 November 2025 – 12 April 2026.

The first three films in our 16mm series have been shown together as The Teesside Trilogy as part of the group exhibition Desire Lines: Art, Place & Possibilities, MIMA, Middlesbrough, 28 November 2025 – 12 April 2026.

This short film series uses colour 16mm film to explore specific human and non-human environments and ecologies across Teesside. It draws attention to how analogue filmmaking technology communicates space and movement through cycles of light, and how this represents our relationships with nature, labour and culture. For each film, workshops were held with local groups including scientists, school children and football fans, with fragments of their dreams, words and voices appearing as subtitles and soundtracks.

This short film series uses colour 16mm film to explore specific human and non-human environments and ecologies across Teesside. It draws attention to how analogue filmmaking technology communicates space and movement through cycles of light, and how this represents our relationships with nature, labour and culture. For each film, workshops were held with local groups including scientists, school children and football fans, with fragments of their dreams, words and voices appearing as subtitles and soundtracks.

01

Forms of Circulation #1 (National Horizons Centre)

Forms of Circulation #1 (National Horizons Centre)

Digital transfer from 16mm colour film, 13 min 12 sec

Test tubes and bottles, cabinets and pressure gauges, microscopes, freezers and 3D printers, pipettes and pipes, and a colony of dancing seals. Developed from workshops with lab researchers and shot on location at the advanced biosciences facility National Horizons Centre and Teesmouth National Nature Reserve, the film explores the labour exchange from human hand to machine processes to the seals of Seal Sands.

Test tubes and bottles, cabinets and pressure gauges, microscopes, freezers and 3D printers, pipettes and pipes, and a colony of dancing seals. Developed from workshops with lab researchers and shot on location at the advanced biosciences facility National Horizons Centre and Teesmouth National Nature Reserve, the film explores the labour exchange from human hand to machine processes to the seals of Seal Sands.

Supporting the work of Teesmouth Seal Rescue and Coastal Conservation Centre. Selected for BFI London Film Festival in 2024.

02

Forms of Circulation #2 (Tilery Park)

Forms of Circulation #2 (Tilery Park)

Digital transfer from 16mm colour film, 12 min 8 sec

The green space in town where ladybirds, egrets and ducks live and a burnt-out car becomes a sculpture to dance around, set to a digital music score combining the rustle of trees, the bubbling of the beck and the hum of the A19 dual carriageway. Musing on the uses of Tilery Rec, local school children, birds, animals and insects, and the park itself, all come together to play, dream and offer new ideas and visions for the future.

The green space in town where ladybirds, egrets and ducks live and a burnt-out car becomes a sculpture to dance around, set to a digital music score combining the rustle of trees, the bubbling of the beck and the hum of the A19 dual carriageway. Musing on the uses of Tilery Rec, local school children, birds, animals and insects, and the park itself, all come together to play, dream and offer new ideas and visions for the future.

Made with the participation of the Year 5 and 6 Geography class at Tilery Primary School. Commissioned by the Tees Estuary Nature Recovery Partnership.

03

Forms of Circulation #3 (Middlesbrough Football Club)

Forms of Circulation #3 (Middlesbrough Football Club)

Digital transfer from 16mm colour film, 10 min 7 sec

Filmed in and around Middlesbrough F.C.’s Riverside Stadium, this 16mm film follows the quieter circulations around a football ground on matchday: the walk in, conversations at the turnstile, the river’s edge, shifting skies, and where tidal rhythms and crowd energy move through the same stretch of land. A film about belonging: the rituals a town repeats each week, and the landscape that holds them.

Filmed in and around Middlesbrough F.C.’s Riverside Stadium, this 16mm film follows the quieter circulations around a football ground on matchday: the walk in, conversations at the turnstile, the river’s edge, shifting skies, and where tidal rhythms and crowd energy move through the same stretch of land. A film about belonging: the rituals a town repeats each week, and the landscape that holds them.

Part of Green Corridors North East (AHRC Mission Award), led by Durham University, Newcastle University, Teesside University and the National Trust.

04

Forms of Circulation #4 (Coatham Marsh)

Forms of Circulation #4 (Coatham Marsh)

Digital transfer from 16mm colour film

This film follows the tides, birds and quiet human traces moving through a reclaimed stretch of coastline in North East England. Shot on 16mm, the film reads a protected landscape through memory and everyday encounter rather than survey or record, asking what a marsh holds onto, and what it lets go.

This film follows the tides, birds and quiet human traces moving through a reclaimed stretch of coastline in North East England. Shot on 16mm, the film reads a protected landscape through memory and everyday encounter rather than survey or record, asking what a marsh holds onto, and what it lets go.

With thanks to Sally and Steve (A Man Called Adam) and Rosie Carr for the sound. Commissioned by Natural England as part of its Protected Site Strategies.

05

Forms of Circulation #5 (Deadwater)

Forms of Circulation #5 (Deadwater)

IN PRODUCTION

Filming in Northumbria in September 2026.

Filming in Northumbria in September 2026.

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© 2026